Temperature-, Salinity-, and Size-Dependent Winter Mortality of Juvenile Blue Crabs (<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Callinectes sapidus</Emphasis>) |
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Authors: | Laurie J Bauer Thomas J Miller |
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Institution: | (1) Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, P.O. Box 38, 1 Williams St, Solomons, MD 20688, USA;(2) Present address: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1305 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA |
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Abstract: | The blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, is an ecologically and economically valuable species in Chesapeake Bay. Field surveys and laboratory experiments indicate
that blue crab mortality is significant during severe winters. We applied a temperature and salinity-dependent survival model
to empirical temperature and salinity data to explore spatial and interannual patterns in overwintering mortality. Harmonic
regression analysis and geostatistical techniques were used to create spatially explicit maps of estimated winter duration,
average temperature, average salinity, and resulting crab survival probability for the winters of 1990–2004. Predicted survival
was highest in the warmer, saline waters of the lower Bay and decreased with increasing latitude up bay. There was also significant
interannual variation with survival being lowest after the severe winters of 1996 and 2003. We combine the survival probability
maps with maps of blue crab abundance to show how winter mortality may reduce blue crab abundance prior to the start of the
harvesting season. |
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Keywords: | |
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